Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States of America, from 1981-1989. He is considered a heroic figure in the Republican party and conservative movement. His most famous quote may be “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” He also once quipped “I hope you’re all Republicans,” to the surgeons treating him after he was shot.
Reagan’s legacy is mixed, with supporters pointing to a more efficient and prosperous economy and a peaceful end to the Cold War. Critics argue that his economic policies caused huge budget deficits, quadrupling the United States national debt and that the Iran-Contra affair lowered American credibility. There is no doubt, however, that Reagan was a great and inspirational public speaker.
1. A people free to choose will always choose peace.
2. Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.
3. Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.
4. Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
5. How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
6. Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.
7. It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
8. We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
9. I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
10. There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.
11. We in government should learn to look at our country with the eyes of the entrepreneur, seeing possibilities where others see only problems
12. A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough.
13. In America, our origins matter less than our destination, and that is what democracy is all about.
14. The work of volunteer groups throughout our country represents the very heart and soul of America. They have helped make this the most compassionate, generous, and humane society that ever existed on the face of this earth.
15. The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.
16. The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
17. Coercion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.
18. The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’
19. I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.
20. My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes. [Said during a radio microphone test in 1984]
Contributor: rushfan
Do you have plasma-screen-digital-sound paint? Colour paint, even? Or are you limited to black-and-white paint?
This discussion seems to have split in two: those who are talking about Ronald Reagan and those who aren’t.
I doubt the words are actually his (except for the last one of course). As far as I know his most famous original quote was “Where are the jelly beans?”
Which, interestingly enough, is not to take anything away from someone who (1) understood his limitations, (2) was very, very good at choosing talented subordinates and (3) was just smart enough to listen to those subordinates.
astraya #122: What could possibly be a third option. That’s like saying “there are only two colors, those which are tickle me pink and those which are not.” Now I like tickle me pink as much as the next hetero*****ual male, but you can’t go through life refusing to admit the existence of other colors. In fact when I was in college I joined a group specifically devoted to color awareness, they were called the rainbow club. Me and the guys in the rainbow club would often hang out at a techno/cosmopolitan club called The Tool Box. We had rainbow bumper stickers. My favorite thing to do with the boys was to go to a leather store called Leather Daddy’s and buy some chaps (we liked to dress in costume) and run around the town promoting other colors. We were so prevalent that we were even in a parade (the theme was pink!).
Also, Ronald Reagan’s middle name was Wilson and he was the first president to be born with a conjoined twin (that kid from Growing Pains).
i like reagan.
what an amazing president, i hope for another one like him.
Considering it’s conservative season (kill the wepubwican) I make the following comments behind an Acme Safe-T Boulder. Kazorek, I am thrilled to see that the Soviet propaganda machine was successful! It’s always nice to know something worked according to plan. Unfortunately, those of us who studied history well after we were “like, 21″ have discovered that the Soviets only “chose” to abandon communism when they didn’t have a “choice” to do otherwise. Might I humbly suggest that you pick up “Animal Farm” by Orwell. Don’t be fooled by the funny animals – it is actually about communism and those who were as happy in it as a (note the literary reference) pig in slop. Do you really think that a small group of people becoming insanely rich off the backs of poor laborers would “choose” to abandon that system? Hmmm…..
astraya and Phender,
We DO have colour, and we are working on adding sound. But we need to be terribly careful not to overstimulate our guests. The Chilean Health Service doesn’t cater for the dire consequences of that.
Oh yes, the discussion split in two. Right I’ll just be off to watch some Ronald Reagan quotes dry then.
Phender Stratocaster,
Ronald Reagan must be the first president to be born with a middle name which is also the name of another president and a British Prime Minster too. I hope he’s in the Guinness Book of Records on that score.
I’m with you on the rainbow. Our household can better measly paint samples too and go the whole hog with the Royal Horticultural Society’s colour chart. A few billion or so different shades, tints and tones there.
Not so sure about the chaps though. As the next hetero*****ual male, I’m a bit keener on the gals.
New Zealand: Ewe Should Come!
Shauna (127)
What do you think the majority of said small group are doing these days? They are all Filthy rich (or their heirs) or running the quote democracy unquote that is modern Russia. Only now they don’t have to run around in silly uniforms and drive around in ZILs.
Cheers
Lee
Kevin (111) So where was Bush in Darfur? North Korea (remember them, they actually threatened to Nuke the USA), Iran? Georgia?
Cheers
Lee
LOL @ Kazorek.
They couldnt really choose to do anything, as military spending skyrocketed to match Reagan’s Star Wars bluff, and the rest of the Soviet economy simply collapsed. C’mon people study your history.
Surprise, surprise, surprise…..
Never ending conservative bashing on the internet, without backed evidence. Reagan caused today’s economy with deregulation, today’s Iraq war, terrorists, and so much more. OMG he took tax breaks from the rich and big businesses. Blah, blah, blah….. How about instead, of repeating what you heard from your friend about how Reagen and playing mini monica lewinskys, read up on some economics, economical history, and political history and get off of Clinton please.
Deregulation did not cause the collapse of today’s economy. Businesses giving out loans to people that couldn’t pay them back did. Simple as that, (less)government didn’t cause this problem, businesses that were greedy and didn’t make sound economical decisions systems did. Now instead of letting these companies die out(capitalism), we decide to fuel the fire and bail these banks out of financial trouble(socialism.) Now we will continue down the path of bad business and the dollar will continue to shrink, when we should of let these companies die out, giving away to the wiser businesses to thrive, survival of the fittest.(I don’t even want to go into how the bailouts and stimulus are lowering the power of the dollar, remember kids it’s not how much money you have, but how strong it is, just look at kenya.) Now on a moral look at the economy, wouldn’t government telling the private sector what to do with it’s money be called fascism?
There you have it the economic situation in lay-man terms.
Now I often hear people tell me that Reagen is the reason we have today’s extremest Muslims. These radical muslims started hating the west, after WW2, when the UN and Israel were founded. With continue economical and military support to Israel and interventionism/imperialism policy’s in the area(Yes, Reagan and all presidents since WW2 were apart of this, which i disagree with, I don’t think he is perfect. Intervention=bad) Yes, terrorists are the scum of the earth and no it’s not our fault for their actions.
It seem when in argument about Reagan, people always bring up Bill Clinton. He was an average president in a great time, INTERNET BOOM!!! That is all i have to say about that subject. Oh yea, Clinton and Al Gore for that matter was quoted several times saying that the “Saddam problem” would need to be solved militarily.(I am no way for the war, but don’t call Bush a warmonger and then turn around and love Clinton.)
I don’t agree with Reagan with everything(interventionism mainly) but, he probably was our last true conservative president(besides Bush’s first term until he started spending liberal), now that we have rino’s running the GOP. This country was built on (modern sense)conservative views, its drifting the wrong way.
Rant over.
ps sorry for the grammatical errors it’s late and i did that quick
The Soviets and the US were rivals but that doesn’t mean that “we” defeated them. I’m shocked at everyones responses really. Do you think the Soviets were like “uh-oh we better be a democracy so they don’t kick our ass?” You guys act like its a universal truth that democracies are better communist states, like the Soviets secretly knew democracies were better. They were in trouble and they needed to figure out what they could do about it. It was their best option but it wasn’t their only one. We didn’t “win” ***** except bragging rights because outlasted them.
And I have read Animal Farm and 1984, they were pretty much the story of Stalin’s Soviet Union (and great books). George Orwell was still a communist, those books aren’t about the evils of communism, they’re books about the evils of the Soviet leadership at the time.
man oh man do I miss the Gipper…we need such a man or women of his ilk right now in the Whitehouse and yet we end up with a stark raving looney socialist…oy….
Ronnie wasn’t perfect but he was the best President in the U.S. in modern times…I liked JFK and FDR also, warts and all…just to show I can be partisan…ha ha ha..
k1w1taxi,
Bush condemned North Korea and what’s going on in Darfur. Bush even had the balls to chastise China when he arrived during the Olympics. Then again, it’s pretty obvious that Iraq was the biggest threat in the 90s and the early 21st century. We invaded once, and Clinton bombed it once during the 90s. North Korea wasn’t the biggest threat to the United States. The Commies there have reasons not to attack the United States and even bigger reasons not to attack us. The terrorists in the Middle East have no qualms blowing themselves up. Darfur is just a tragedy. Besides, I would bet that if Gore won the election in 2000, he would have invaded Iraq too anyway. It’s simply a no brainer. A country with a past of trying to build nuclear weapons and a country with the occasional terrorist living in its borders. I’ll admit it’s very difficult for me to come to terms with the deaths in Iraq, but I can’t help but feel that it was necessary at the end of the day.
Kazorek,
No, we didn’t directly defeat them. But the CIA did a fantastic job of weakening them and the United States surely did a great job competing against it, which forced a huge burden on its economy. Even more importantly, the United States constantly chastised its behavior internationally and when the Soviet Union started going into serious debt, held it over their head. There is of course the United States funding of anti-Communist regimes as well, especially Afghanistan. America played its part well during the Reagan years. And yes, there is without a doubt a ton of evidence showing that democracies are naturally better than Communist societies. Ahem… Gulag Archipelago, Black Book of Communism, etc.
theSKIN: Are you serious? Business taking loans that they couldn’t meet led to the current crisis? De-regulation had no role?
Come on. Why don’t you give us all a break! I am no fool to blame this crisis on Reagan but Reagan’s admin was a dud on economic policies. Why can’t conservatives just accept the truth?
By the way, i am a conservative. I think Reagan’s enduring legacy is pushing USSR over the cliff and ending Cold War. But he scores a zero on economics.
got carried way: I meant Why can’t REPUBLICANS just accept the truth? and not Why can’t conservatives just accept the truth?
Do you really think that any of the presidents here mentioned had anything to do with… anything actually! It’s like saying that Achmed the dead terrorist is a real terrorist! And a dead one too! He’s like a zombie terrorist!!! We are all doomed!!!
Go figure…
I just see this as blown opportunities to be great.
P.S.
Great comments! More democracy here than in the U.S.!
Greetings to Vespuccia!
theSKIN: Like it or not, militant Islamic fundamentalism started during Reagan era when US funded the opponents of their opponents.
So it started with Iraq. US supported Iraq in early 80s in it’s war against Iran. US supported the Afghan Mujahideen-Pak ISI in their war against USSR/Afghan puppet govt. The problem was fundamentalism (regardless of religion) is a frankenstein. it is easy to feed & grow one but difficult to starve & kill it.
So, post Iraq-Iran war, Saddam turned to Kuwait. Post-Afghanistan, ISI created Taliban. The seeds for both these disasters lay in the 1980s US funding but it isn’t just Reagan’s fault.
1. Bush Sr. had the golden opportunity to depose Saddam in 1991. He had the global mandate & the UN mandate. He instead was satisfied in just freeing Kuwait and watched quietly as Saddam massacred thousands in the basra rebellion. in fact you will be surprised to know that Dick Cheney in 1991 defended the decision of not going after Saddam as it wasn’t worth more casualties. We know now how many more (4500+)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#The_end_of_active_hostilities
2. Taliban: Afghanistan is too difficult a terrain to address conventionally. When CIA funded Pak’s ISI to train mujahideen, little did they know that they were funding the core of today’s islamic fundamentalism. Taliban grew from the money that US poured into the region. Bush Sr. (in parts) and Clinton should take the blame in not stamping out Taliban as it was getting started.
In short, i am not a blind Reagan follower. As i stated earlier, he had more foreign affairs hits than misses. But what he missed, his successors missed bigger creating today’s environment. He takes minority blame for the 2 mistakes – Iraq & Taliban but these 2 mistakes is his successors, not his.
nice job rush! wonderful list for a wonderful man.
Last night, while shopping for egg white omelets, I discovered another secret agenda of Reagan. He had a third eye located between his thyroid gland and his tapetum lucidum. It is for watching Angry Beavers in 3D. Also his aunt had a secret love affair with Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins.
there is no winning in a war, no matter how justified, because the general public only has their personal interests in mind.
kalyan: you said this “He instead was satisfied in just freeing Kuwait and watched quietly as Saddam massacred thousands in the basra rebellion” speaking of President Bush Sr. the exact opposite of this is what some were critizing President Bush Jr. for. they called him a war monger and having a personal vendetta and that he was “finishing his father’s war” for not simply freeing the iraqi people but hunting down saddam as well.
this is why a man like reagan was so admirable. look at quote #12 “A leader, once convinced a particular course of action is the right one, must have the determination to stick with it and be undaunted when the going gets rough.” when a plan is has been made, stick to it. don’t pander. be a leader and take us where your vision leads you.
Worst. President. Ever.
Favorite list of all time.
However, my personal favorite Reagan quote is missing – “I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.”
I don’t like Regan.
And the Iran-Contra affair makes me angry.
That is all.
-Kase
I always liked Regan. How about one of his most famous quotes said at the beginning of most of his sentences with a long pause….”WELL……..”
Ahhhhh… the sound of empty heads sniping at each other’s party affiliation instead of recognizing the government and not the other party is the true enemy. The twanging of stupidity directed at each other instead of the country’s “leadership” is music to the ears of the government who wants a divided pool of slaves rule.
Good job, morons, keep focusing on the other party instead of (GASP!) thinking for yourselves and seeing that you are only doing what your party leadership wants its puppets to do.
Way to go, twits! Keep your ire focused on your fellow American citizen instead of on the American government who is financialy raping you and pillaging your children’s futures.
How proud you will be when you sit your child down and explain you were too busy hating each other to pay attention to the grwoing monster that has enslaved you both.
Yep, good job, America! Way to keep the dream alive!
Kaylan, when i get home from school i will respond a little more detail.
How can you call yourself conservative, but u don’t agree with his economical decisions?
Yes, Reagan intervention did cause some terrorism, but ever since WW2 these muslims, hate us since we were meddling around in there biz. So every president since then, love or hate, has had a equal role in it.
So instead of blaming the people that made these poor financial decisions, you want to blame the government?
theSKIN, you are blaming the people who took out loans they couldn’t afford to pay back. Reagan, both Bushes and Clinton deregulated our finacial institutions which allowed for the bad loans. But you are missing the point. Everybody knows full well why the Soviet Union collapsed. It was the war in Afghanistan. So what do the rightwing lunatics under Reagan do? They pay terrorists like Bin Laden to fight the Soviets, set up the Taliban after they leave, prop up Saddam Hussein to fight Iran, dismantle the energy independence programs set up by Carter. Flash forward twenty years. What do the rightwing lunatics under Bush do? They repeat every mistake made by the Soviets. It’s the wars stupid people! That’s why we are broke. In fact we haven’t even paid off the Vietnam War yet. Rightwing policies; the endless wars, destruction of the middle/working-class, and most importantly, having corporations regulate our government, instead of the other way around are the reasons why we are in such trouble, Stop blaming poor working class people for our problems.
Sounds crazy – but when i was a diplo-brat our family lived next to (for a short time) a retired producer from 20th Century Fox who said that he had been one of Regan’s speech writers. Old Mort Swartz.
This is my favorite one from Reagan. Especially after readng so many retarded statements on this board
“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so” – Ronald Reagan
YogiBarrister – So what do the rightwing lunatics under Reagan do? They pay terrorists like Bin Laden to fight the Soviets..
Ahem!
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski,
President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser
Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html
As usual Yogi you never let the facts get in the way of a good tirade
150. YogiBarrister
“It’s the wars stupid people! That’s why we are broke.”
Oh, Yogi, you’re so right. (Great?) Britain was rich before WW1 and less rich afterwards, but still rich. We started to beat ***** out of Hitler when everyone else had either lost or not yet joined in, and we continued fully committed against the axis powers to the end. Despite a good measure of generosity from you folks, it cost us nearly everything. All but a slender reserve of gold, dollars and negotiables. We ended up almost stony broke. Austerity in victory was *****ing miserable. I know, I lived through it. We finally worked our way through to comfort, but always had debt repayment (plus interest) problems until Maggie mortgaged off the whole of our not inconsiderable North Sea Oil wealth to cancel it. And we WON that friggin war!
the SKIN (133)
Partially correct. Deregulation set the scene for the Greed to run amok. As Alan Greenspan has admitted he was wrong to allow as much deregulation as he did, but his defence is that he thought the banks had enough Survival Instinct to counteract their greed. He was wrong (his words).
However having got to this point you are seriously telling me that that the US Government should have just walked away from the entire situation and let the strongest survive? Utterly untenable in any democracy! How many banks and financial institutions have NOT needed Government help? You would allow the Death of GM and Chrysler (and if they went I suspect Ford would follow)? How many hundreds of thousands of unemployed and homeless are you prepared to put up with in the name of following your capitalist Dogma?
Fascist socialism? Socialist fascism? either way sounds like an oxymoron to me.
Cheers
Lee
Reagan is a classic example of “Do as I say, not as I do”
OsiruS – Reagan is a classic example of “Do as I say, not as I do”
As opposed to every other politician, who simply say ‘Do as I say.’
Ronald Reagan like other great presidents (Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt) was the right man for the hour. Divine providence has periodically rescued America from itself by providing great leaders at critical points in history. Reagan intuitively perceived that the misguided idealism of communism, socialism and liberalism, were threatening to shipwreck the world. He was the helmsman, who helped right the ship.
Ronald Reagan was clearly human, but even with his occasional foibles and frailties, he stood as a great spokesman, leader and president, to a country adrift in a sea of doubt. Reagan’s grand view of America as “a city set on a hill” helped a country regain faith in itself after the turmoil of the 1960s and 70s. Certainly Reagan was an actor, and he played the starring role of president in a manner worthy of an academy award.
Those blinded by their own bias, lack the objectivity to give Reagan his rightful place amongst America’s greatest. The words of those insignificant voices that are critical of Reagan will dissipate like the hot air that they are. But Ronald Reagan has taken his seat next to America’s great presidents, and his life, and his words, will live on in infamy and inspire Americans for generations to come. I am one American who is grateful to have lived in his time.
Loose Cannon #153, so in other words, the CIA under Carter successfully prosecuted a war by proxy, one that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Why then do the dim bulbs on the right credit Reagan? I wasn’t against hiring Bin Laden to defeat the Soviets, it’s what Reagan did afterwards that screwed us. That’s when we started to cozy up to the Saudis, the folks who brought us 9/11 and who continue to support Bin Laden, even to this day.
Tellit # 158, God man get a freakin’ brain will you? You are the type of true believer that will have to lose everything before you wake up. Then of course you’ll blame Obama.
Before Reagan, America was the coolest country in the world. Now we are considered to be the douchiest. We have become country that caters to selfish, blustery oafs and lacks basic common sense. It all started with Reagan’s premise that the government is evil and all the power must be given to big business.
Oh yeah Tellit, you completely ignored Reagan’s connection to the crack epidemic. He was directly responsible for it. That’s how he funded the Contras, that’s the deal he made with Central American thugs in exchange for waging war on the Sandinistas, workers’ rights activists and the Catholic Church. History will not be kind to Reagan once the FOIA docs are made public.
YogiBarrister – I wasn’t against hiring Bin Laden to defeat the Soviets
You weren’t? Let’s review the tape, shall we?
-Yogi-just 9 comments up:-So what do the rightwing lunatics under Reagan do? They pay terrorists like Bin Laden to fight the Soviets…
Seriously?
And then you go on: the CIA under Carter successfully prosecuted a war by proxy, one that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union.
So, you really believe that the Afghanistan war is what brought the Soviet Union down? It had nothing to do with the first president in the history of the cold war to refuse to negotiate with an ‘Evil Empire’? Nothing what-so-ever to do with him standing at the Berlin Wall daring the Soviet leader to tear it down? Nothing at all to do with Reagan refusing to confine Strategic Defense Initiative research to the labs and walking away from the “the most far-reaching arms-control agreements in the history of the Cold War” in Reykjavik?
Yogi, seriously, get a clue.
DiscHuker: Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Bush Sr. was wrong in not bringing a logical conclusion during Gulf war when he had the global mandate. Bush Jr acted like a cowboy, used 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq when he had no mandate and used flimsy evidence (at best) or lies (at worst) to attack Iraq.
In 2003, there was no reason for US to invade Iraq. Once UN resolution 1441 was adopted, Saddam knew that his bluff game was over and started cooperating with UN weapons inspector. In fact, the UN inspectors asked for more time that Bush wasn’t ready to give.
I agree with your statement on leaders not pandering and taking decisive action. Neither Bush Sr nor Bush Jr can claim to be leaders.
Loose Cannon, are you completely daft? Of course the war in Afghanistan is what brought down the Soviet economy. The Vietnam War, and the current clusterf%@k in Iraq/Afganistan are what brought down our economy. War ruins the economy, even if you win.
BTW I love how rightwingers give Reagan or the Pope credit for all the hard lifting Lech Walesa did in Poland. Yeah, I know, he was a labor activist, we all know how terrible those people are, yet he did a whole lot more than Reagan. Now please tell me you were only joking when you said that they tore down the Berlin Wall because Reagan asked them to. Here’s the problem I have with you Loose Cannon, your stupidity is costing me a ton of money, not to mention all the US troops lives that you ruined, all the innocent civilians that you accidently murdered with your foolish lobbying.
theSKIN: I am a conservative because i believe in free market principle only to the extent that companies have the right to enjoy their profit IF AND ONLY IF they are willing to endure the pain of losses.
Be it democrats or republicans, they have shown that they will walk the extra mile to ensure that corporate losses are nationalized and corporate profits are privatized. that isn’t free market principles. reagan & bush sr had S&L crisis; Clinton had LTCM meltdown; Bush had 2008 financial crisis – all of them spent public money to bail out private companies.
I am a political centrist who was not born within US territory but has a thorough knowledge of the societies politics and political history (Having studied politics) and in my opinion Reagan was a good President; likely not “the best” but certainly good. He had excellent leadership skills, capable staff assisting him and maintained himself during times of crisis. With this said, none of it was due to him being Republican, a President is a person, not a party, to state otherwise is simply irrational. It is due to this sentiment that I am often confused why there is such an elaborate following of Reagan amongst the Republican party.
Additionally, quote 14 is an extraordinarily subjective claim. Was Reagan aware of how many civilisations exist or have existed on earth, or for that matter is he aware of how he possesses a detailed knowledge of how humane, generous and compassionate each of these civilisations are/were? Bizarre.
How trivial the arguments…
is there a list of “funny or controversial silvio berlusconi quotes” in listverse? he’s so great you can easily search these on google but still i think it would be great on the site
#165 Nially Bob: “I am often confused why there is such an elaborate following of Reagan amongst the Republican party”.
Google “Reagan Democrat” and you will find he had a substantial following amongst democrats as well (that is – rational democrats).
He had some good writers; he delivered lines better than many post-TV presidents. The mistakes he made politically and financially are still shaking the world we live in. Remember his handlers became W’s handlers- and they were all trained by Nixon’s handlers. Superb. The whole party’s ethics are “remarkable.”
Thank you!
You should have added this to the list…
“I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.” ~ Ronald Reagan, 22 September 1980.
I like this list – I quite liked Reagan too – though I never had to live in his country
JFrater: Sorry, took me a while to respond, i thought i had read one =D.
Yogi, how are you still arguing? You are a *****ing joke. Do you even know what you are talking about? Let’s see here “left-wing politics” were in power when Vietnam escalated, the current wars didn’t start the recession, and you claim that wars hurt the economy, but the biggest growths in the American economy were after major wars.(Wars are bad, but they help the economy, we shouldn’t enter wars to help the economy.) You are so blind by your political affiliate that you don’t even look at facts. No, one can argue with you when you make up ***** to confirm your argument.
You also confuse the hell out of me. You jump from one side to the other, which leads me to believe that you just spew what some liberal lune says.
BTW http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h25/show
Oh yea please pass. This will encourage people, rich to poor, to save money.
good list, hehehe
from all of us vespuccians- if anyone could think of a name for us (that wasn’t an insult) actually related to the name of our country other than “americans” i’d be happy to use it.
but “unitarians” is taken (by a religion and a philosophy), “statesians” just doesn’t work, and “america” is the only other word of note in the name. we are uniquely disadvantaged by being the only country both share our name with our continent and share our continent with other countries (so, no australia doesn’t count.) in this one instance only, our seeming egotism and blithe disregard for our neighbors isn’t really our fault.
regardless of his politics and policies, these are good quotes, reagan had great writers.
but you forgot his best and most telling quote of all:
“My name is Ronald Reagan. What’s yours?”
(The boy said) “Mike Reagan. I’m your son.”
“Oh……, I didn’t recognize you.”
-after delivering remarks at the prep school graduation of his adopted son from his first marriage. the story is attributed to michael reagan himself.
theSKIN said…”you claim that wars hurt the economy, but the biggest growths in the American economy were after major wars. Wars are bad, but they help the economy…”
What orifice did you pull that “fact” out of? There were recessions and inflation after every war, and that’s in the countries that win. Go back and do some research before you spout that crap.
Are you seriously suggesting that the Vietnam War helped our economy? That “leftwing” politics that got us into that mess? The war helped defense contractors at the expense of every other sector of our economy. Are you seriously suggesting that borrowing trillions of dollars from China and Saudi Arabia to fight two wars (not even counted in Bush’s deficit) is good for economy?
Your appalling ignorance is what has caused every war, every recession in history. You see my tiny thinking “friend”, the world is full of squirmy people like you. In every nation there are people saying and doing stupid ***** that incites war. Wars are the root cause of all our economic woes and dim little f%@kwads like you will cause the extinction of the human race.
I’m done with you, your a moron, anyone that know anything about economical history, knows that Americans biggest growths were after major wars. You know nothing of economics, you do realize the defense sector is one of our biggest industries? You also claim that the wars started the recession, once again anyone that knows anything about the economy knows that’s not the truth.
You are whats wrong with this country, spewing out crap that is not corrected or even close to accurate. People eat that crap up because usually its coming out of some one that looks motivated and correct, but nope just an energized moron.
Do research before you make yourself look like a fool on this site once again.
theSKIN:
Sorry, twit-boy, but you’re the moron here—mainly because you weren’t content with arguing your point, but because you went on to make the asinine blunder of accusing another individual of “knowing nothing” about economics when clearly you know pretty much spit about it, yourself.
To begin with, it’s generally agreed, by most economists that I know of, that the Vietnam war helped to push the US economy over into recession or near-recession. Certainly most economists agree that the recent over-the-top spending on the war in Iraq has also done little good for our economy. Wars CAN economically ruin nations, theSKIN–this is well known. In fact, it’s the norm.
What’s arguably HELPED the US economy (but to what extent it helped is still debated) is the PEACETIME spending on certain military programs. But it isn’t simply a matter of throwing money at the military and voila, the economy grows. That’s not how it works.
You seem to be referring at least in part to the economic “boom” that the US economy experienced post WWII. But even here you have to be careful. Many economists (and history backs them up on this) have said that it wasn’t the massive spending on WWII that brought the US out of the Great Depression—because much of that spending was solely related to one-time military needs that were immediately and heavily scaled back with the close of the war—but rather the reinvigoration of the economy brought on by post-war desires for housing and retail goods, in combination with spending money pumped into the economy via government programs such as the GI Bill.
In fact, the signs at the time were that the economy was really not getting much better during the wartime period. If direct military spending was factored out, things were actually pretty static.
What has in fact rarely happened in US history is severe *damage* to the economy due to war. Iraq hasn’t helped–it’s diverted funding from all kinds of programs and left us with a huge deficit and even greater debt. That can’t be argued to be “good” or “helpful” by any standards.
In short, it’s a myth that “war breathes life into the economy” and that if we’re in economic trouble, all we have to do is start a war to get out of it. That’s a cutesy, but really quite inaccurate little myth.
Yogibarrister:
Hate to disagree with you, Yogi, but in fact, no—the war in Afghanistan is not what brought the USSR down. It was a factor, yes, but not a terribly large one, and only one amongst many.
Who was more responsible for that? Well sorry, but surely not Lech Walesa. Walesa was a brave man with a lot of chutzpah, no doubt. But the graveyards of Eastern Europe and Russia (not to mention lots of unmarked graves) are replete with brave human beings with chutzpah. Secret police usually had no problem dealing with such guys.
There were basically three people who were “responsible” in a sense for the fall of the Soviet Union—if any individual human beings can be said to be “responsible” (it really had more to do with large, politico/economic factors that were going on for years). One was Pope John Paul II. Another was Mikhail Gorbachev. And the last was Ronald Reagan. Of the three I’d say Reagan had the least to do with it. Yes, the massive military spending during Reagan’s administration helped push the USSR over the edge, but more is made of that than the facts truly warrant.